Budget would have to double
Welfare Minister Zola Skweyiya has rejected claims that the government is failing social services and questioned the credibility of the organisation that made the criticism.
Chairperson of the National Coalition of Social Services (Nacoss) Solly Mokgata claimed that social services are on the verge of collapse because they are not properly supported by the government.
He said several services might have to be discontinued because of poor government support and that talks with the government in the past five years had failed to improve the situation.
The coalition represents 3 600 organisations, including churches, that deliver social services across South Africa and in all communities.
They provide services to 11.5 million people every year, employ 26 000 full-time and 42 000 voluntary workers.
Nocass said their joint annual budget amounted to R1.3bn of which the government contributed less than 30% through subsidies.
The organisation said the government should contribute 75% in a fair system.
Organisations such as the National Council for Child and Family Care said their budget would double if they had to deliver services on the level that they were needed.
In his reaction, Skweyiya pointed out that the government spent more than R34bn in social grants every year.
He also referred to improved access to water, electricity and housing.
Mokgata said, however, that the government's attempts at poverty alleviation through social grants were nothing more than throwing money down a bottomless pit.
He said it did not help to lift people from poverty while not to providing funding for development programmes.
Nacoss said the social-services sector was severely hampered by the brain drain of social workers because they were not paid decent salaries.
Another underlying problem was the lack of a comprehensive social-service financing policy for South Africa.
At present, individual officials in provinces decided on how subsidies should be allocated.
Willem Botha of the Dutch Reformed Church's welfare action in the Free State said on Monday social services had reached the end of the road.
The fact that they were now turning to the media to address their problems "is a last-ditch attempt to prevent services from having to discontinue".
Nacoss cited the followed examples of the breakdown of social services:
Chairperson of the National Coalition of Social Services (Nacoss) Solly Mokgata claimed that social services are on the verge of collapse because they are not properly supported by the government.
He said several services might have to be discontinued because of poor government support and that talks with the government in the past five years had failed to improve the situation.
The coalition represents 3 600 organisations, including churches, that deliver social services across South Africa and in all communities.
They provide services to 11.5 million people every year, employ 26 000 full-time and 42 000 voluntary workers.
Nocass said their joint annual budget amounted to R1.3bn of which the government contributed less than 30% through subsidies.
The organisation said the government should contribute 75% in a fair system.
Organisations such as the National Council for Child and Family Care said their budget would double if they had to deliver services on the level that they were needed.
In his reaction, Skweyiya pointed out that the government spent more than R34bn in social grants every year.
He also referred to improved access to water, electricity and housing.
Mokgata said, however, that the government's attempts at poverty alleviation through social grants were nothing more than throwing money down a bottomless pit.
He said it did not help to lift people from poverty while not to providing funding for development programmes.
Nacoss said the social-services sector was severely hampered by the brain drain of social workers because they were not paid decent salaries.
Another underlying problem was the lack of a comprehensive social-service financing policy for South Africa.
At present, individual officials in provinces decided on how subsidies should be allocated.
Willem Botha of the Dutch Reformed Church's welfare action in the Free State said on Monday social services had reached the end of the road.
The fact that they were now turning to the media to address their problems "is a last-ditch attempt to prevent services from having to discontinue".
Nacoss cited the followed examples of the breakdown of social services:
non-governmental orphanages received a subsidy of R900 a child a month while it cost between R2 000 and R3 000 to take care of a child a month;
the cost of care for an elderly person was calculated for subsidy purposes to be R1 610 a month in 1997 and this figure had not been adapted since;
Pinetown Highway Children's Welfare in KwaZulu-Natal had lost 24 of their 26 social workers. They had 1 900 children in foster care and, if regular reports were not made to the courts, no foster care grants were paid out;
Rethabile Children's Home in Klerksdorp incurred an overdraft of R190 000 when the North West provincial government failed to pay subsidies for two months; and,
the Mpumalanga government was two months behind in payment of subsidies because of a lack of funds.
posted by Jopie Fourie at 2:52 PM
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